President Donald Trump has called for the resignation of Intel’s new chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, after the semiconductor veteran was accused of being “highly conflicted”.

The comments in a post on Truth Social on Thursday said: “The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem.” The post was succinct and did not specify any particular issues that Intel CEO Tan was facing.

Tan is a veteran Silicon Valley investor and businessman, and has founded and built companies in semiconductors and venture capital over the past four decades. He has particularly been a prolific investor in China-based technology companies, both through his San Francisco-headquartered investment firm and its Hong Kong-based affiliates. Among his former portfolio companies are Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chipmaker.

Tan’s past leadership of Cadence Design Systems, a California-based supplier of chip design software, is also now coming under renewed focus. Cadence only last week admitted to violating U.S. export controls after selling its software to a Chinese university that has been found to have links to the Chinese military. These and other issues about Tan’s connections in the tech sector have been increasingly raised since his appointment in March as Intel’s new CEO.

Intel and the White House have both declined to comment on Trump’s comments. However, the company’s stock did dip on Thursday in New York before the markets opened, falling by 3 percent after Trump’s post.

Tan was appointed Intel’s new CEO in March after the company’s board voted to replace outgoing CEO Pat Gelsinger in December last year. Gelsinger, a 30-year veteran of Intel, had originally been appointed to the CEO role to steady the Silicon Valley giant’s ship and to return it to form after it had fallen far behind rivals, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Tan is now stepping into the CEO role at a very sensitive time for Intel, as it not only tries to recover ground in the highly competitive semiconductor industry, but also as it searches for a way into the current boom in artificial intelligence chips. AI chips are widely expected to be the next growth driver of the global semiconductor industry, and becoming a significant player in this market would be a major win for any chipmaker.

Intel has been awarded billions of dollars in subsidies and loans to help improve its competitiveness and to become more of a player in the AI chips market. These investments are part of the U.S. government’s broader push to support and incentivize more semiconductor manufacturing to happen on U.S. soil, as a means of weaning the country off its dependence on foreign chipmakers, particularly those in Taiwan and South Korea. But with Intel already way behind TSMC in terms of its cutting-edge manufacturing, Tan is coming into his new role facing a tough set of expectations to show results.

As Tan ramped up to take the new CEO position in March, he warned that Intel needs a “significant external customer” to support its advanced manufacturing technology. If such a customer is not forthcoming, Intel may have no choice but to stop further development of its next-generation technology. This, in turn, would leave TSMC with what is effectively a monopoly of leading-edge chipmaking, and would be seen as a serious strategic loss for the U.S., both in commercial and national security terms.

Tan has also been engaged in a major cost-cutting push, as Intel has worked to reduce losses and improve profitability. In a way, these moves have been welcomed by the market, and part of Intel’s share price recovery has been attributed to Tan’s moves to restore the company’s financial health.

But there have been other questions, too. Cotton’s letter to Intel’s board chairman made clear that Intel is a recipient of taxpayer subsidies that would be better not spent if the company cannot ensure its operations are secure. “Intel is required to be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars and to comply with applicable security regulations,” Cotton said in the letter. “Mr Tan’s associations raise questions about Intel’s ability to fulfill these obligations.”

Intel has not responded to repeated requests from Nikkei Asia for comment. Tan himself remains CEO, and the company has appointed a new lead independent director to sit on its board as it restructures and navigates through its current internal challenges.